Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Otolio: Japanese AI meeting-minutes service (formerly Smart Scribe) that transcribes and automates the full minutes workflow for businesses. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Otolio when sales teams preparing for and following up on client meetings matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Japanese AI meeting-minutes service (formerly Smart Scribe) that transcribes and automates the full minutes workflow for businesses.
Buzz is a widely used open-source desktop application that transcribes and translates audio offline on the user's personal computer, powered by OpenAI's Whisper. It is MIT-licensed and actively maintained, with v1.4.4 released in March 2026, and it has grown a large community with roughly 19.7k GitHub stars. Buzz runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, with installation options including Flatpak, Snap, and PyPI. It supports both importing existing audio and video files and real-time transcription from microphone input, and it can export results in formats such as TXT, SRT, and VTT for subtitling and documentation. The app includes an advanced transcript viewer with search and playback controls, a watch folder for automatically transcribing new files, and a command-line interface for automation. It offers GPU acceleration through CUDA for Nvidia cards, Apple Silicon support, and Vulkan for many other GPUs, which makes faster transcription practical even on laptops. Buzz also provides speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio, plus a plugin system that adds capabilities like AI-generated summaries. Because all processing happens locally, recordings and transcripts remain on the user's machine rather than being uploaded to a cloud service. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Otolio, formerly known as Smart Scribe (スマート書記), is a Japanese AI meeting-minutes service operated by Epicbase, Inc. It is designed for corporate use and automates the entire meeting documentation process rather than only producing a transcript. Users can record in-person meetings or capture audio from web conferencing tools, after which Otolio automatically transcribes the audio and generates summarized, cleaned-up minutes. Features include speaker visualization, registration of specialized terminology for improved accuracy on industry-specific vocabulary, and filler-word removal. The platform organizes recording, transcription, minutes generation, and follow-up tasks within a single interface, and offers specialized agents oriented toward meeting minutes and toward sales preparation and follow-up. Security is positioned as a core concern for Japanese enterprises: Otolio is ISO 27001 certified, uses encryption, and states that it does not perform unauthorized machine learning on user data. A mobile app supports transcription, audio playback, and file upload. Otolio is aimed at Japanese organizations that hold frequent internal meetings, sales calls, one-on-ones, and executive sessions and want to reduce the administrative burden of writing minutes. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Otolio is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Otolio |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Automatic transcription of in-person and web-conference audio |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | AI summarization and cleanup of meeting minutes |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Speaker visualization and specialized terminology registration |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Filler-word removal for cleaner transcripts |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Dedicated minutes and sales agents in one interface |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Mobile app for transcription, playback, and file upload |
Buzz
Choose Buzz if you need transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline — strengths include fully offline so audio and transcripts stay on the user's computer.
Otolio
Choose Otolio if you need japanese companies automating internal meeting minutes — strengths include built for the japanese market with strong handling of japanese minutes workflows.
Buzz
Otolio
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Otolio is strong for japanese companies automating internal meeting minutes. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Otolio is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Yes. Many teams run more than one meeting assistant when the workflows are complementary.
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